I’m still learning how everything fits together to work this all out. My understanding is the RealTek chip is a wifi chip, so perhaps that’s the issue? Is the ESP8266 a wifi chip? If so, maybe by replacing it, it’s still flashable, but not through wifi.
@aceindy :
Yeah, that’s part of what I was thinking, but I also see that the term for adding HA to an existing system is “Supervised,” and it seems, from some comments upthread, that’s not a popular way to install. I could probably do what someone else here did and put HA in a VM on the server. That might make it easier in a lot of ways.
The esp8266 is a wifi chip
Then that would all make sense - with the loss of that chip as wifi, it’d need a hardwired connection. I get it.
Any idea on the range or strength of the IR signal on there?
The replacement chip for the esp8266 in tuya devices is also a wifi device, but without the ability to flash your own firmware.
You mention using HA on a virtual server. What are you using for that? Virtual Box? I might want to do something similar on a Linux server, but that system is console only, so I’d have to be able to set up a VM without using a GUI.
That is doable, but what OS is your server running for a start?
Myself I would buy a small form factor PC with an SSD and about 8G RAM and run HA. I would run debian 11 and do a supervised install, or HAOS.
Separate your systems, and don’t leave your HA system at the mercy of whatever your media server happens to be busy with.
It’s running Debian - forgot which version, I have to check on that. I might even need to upgrade it. If I’m putting HA on a separate system, it’ll be a Pi4. I’m just trying to avoid having a few dozen computers around and thinking if I can put it in a VM on the media server, considering that HA can’t require too much (if it runs on a Pi) and the other is mainly just a media file server, so it’s not doing much work other than acting as a SMB server for music and video files.
I’m running HA on a windows 10 machine using Hyper-V, and it is supervised…
I really don’t care that much on how it runs, should be as easy as possible, as I’m not really a linux person (i mean, I can manage…it just takes some more time)
And I use not only HA’s snapshots, I also take regular snapshots of the whole Hyper-V virtual machine…so in case something goes wrong, it’ll be fast and easy to recover 
I’m running on XenServer at the moment because that’s what I started with years ago, but when I get the chance I will move to Proxmox. For Home Assistant I’m running Ubuntu with the HA Supervised Install script. But for my Brother I set up his using Proxmox and the dedicated appliance virtual image.
XenServer has served me well, but all it’s day to day stuff is done in a Windows application, and while you can install a virtual machine that provides access to much of the same stuff the Windows app does, but in a browser instead - it takes up some of the resources (RAM, CPU). Proxmox is definitely the way forward (for me)
I’m still debating whether I am going Pi or not. I started out on the Pi but migrated to the Virtual Server because SD card wear is a real issue. If you do go down the Pi route, get an SSD so the Pi isn’t running from the SD card, and ideally install MariaDB on the media server and point Home Assistant to use the database on the media server rather than it’s default homeassistant_v2.db.
I missed this reply.
Zigbee and ZWave have both moved on quite a bit since those days - for example ZWave Gen 5 / Plus doesn’t require healing almost ever, you can now add devices anywhere in the network - you don’t have to do it right next to the controller and then move it where you want it
Zigbee may have had problems in it’s earlier versions, but Zigbee 3 seems to be quite stable for me at least, I have read people saying that certain light bulbs make the mesh unstable, but I haven’t come across that issue - it’s not clear what Zigbee version the problematic light bulbs are running.
For some context - I’m in a 1700s built house in Scotland, with ridiculously thick walls. I just got a Lux sensor and stuck it outside hoping for the best, the Lux sensor is happily reporting regularly, according to the map it can talk to the controller directly - though it’s unclear whether it really is or whether it is going through another device first.
Is there a “Reply” feature that lets me hit the button and quotes the post I’m replying to? I’m really frustrated because I can’t find that and I see them on most forums, but can’t find it here.
Why MariaDB instead of the default one? What is the default? SQLite built into the programming language or something rather slow?
I’ve stopped using SD cards on my Pis. I have a Pi running RetroPie and it’s all set up in an arcade cabinet. After 3 years with no power outages (other than a planned on), we had multiple outages over several months. That includes power “flickers” where it’d go out for 30 seconds or off/on/off/on and then stabilizing as on. We have a generator, but it takes about 45 seconds to kick in, so I have UPSs on the computers. I did not have one on the arcade system (I do now). It’s always on and the SD card would keep going bad. I found just plugging that card into a Linux system and reading it would fix it, but after 3 or 4 times, and seeing the USB drive never messed up on those events, I just started basing all my Pis on a USB stick instead of SD cards.
We’re in a new house, but I do know what you mean about the thick walls and the issues there. For us, we’re back in the woods and we’ve done a lot of work to make this place feel like it’s out of a story book or fairy tale - a step away from the real world. We wanted to use push button switches for the lights, but I was having a hard enough time with the electricians doing other “non-standard” things. While we are using the newer style flat light switches in the barn, we don’t want them in the house, since that kind of breaks the theme or feel of the house. I just used regular Z-Wave flat style switches in the barn, but for the house I bought a number of Aeotec NanoDimmers that’ll fit in the wall boxes and work with the switches, even 3 and 4 way switches.
Again, the electricians were finding those confusing. We have one light circuit, with a 4 way switch, that has a NanoDimmer on it, that was all I could get them to do. I’m going to change the normal wall switches to the old style push button ones when I have time. Maybe I can do that when I put the NanoDimmers in the boxes.
It took me a moment to figure it out too, select the text that you want to reply to - as if you were going to copy and paste the text, and then press the quote button that pops up.
I think the default is SQLite yes. The database can easily grow to 4GB+ which is a hefty amount to backup and restore should you ever need to. Having the database on mariadb (which is basically mysql) on an external machine means that you don’t need to worry about it as part of the normal backup process for Home Assistant. The SQLite database seems to suffer from corruption, but I’ve never had a problem with MariaDB.
a-jones@henry:~/scripts$ ./ha_db_size.sh
+-----------------+-----------+
| Table | Size (MB) |
+-----------------+-----------+
| states | 2215.63 |
| events | 1568.69 |
| statistics | 14.06 |
| recorder_runs | 0.03 |
| statistics_meta | 0.03 |
| schema_changes | 0.02 |
| statistics_runs | 0.02 |
+-----------------+-----------+
And if you want to quote several; cut the whole new message, scroll up the next line you want to quote, select and quote…etc…etc
General update, since everyone has been so incredibly helpful:
I’ve ordered the hardware I’ll need, for at least a while. That includes 2 Z-Sticks from Aeotec (through Amazon), and two of the Tuya YTF IR devices (and I realize, since they’ve stopped using the ESP chip, that I have to hardwire them to flash them). I’m not sure I need it, but this is also an excuse to get an extra Pi4.
I’m going to use one Pi, Z-Stick, and YTF in the house and the same in the barn. This brings up the question of if it’s possible to separate the YTF devices and tell HA one is the barn and one is the house, so I don’t send IR codes to the barn entertainment center when I’m watching TV in the house. (I’m thinking that’d be a must, so I’m sure it’s doable, just checking.) I thought about ordering one of each, but since people are using all this and recommending them, I’m going on the assumption they work. The frustrating part is I want to jump into this and start setting things up, but it’s going to be at least another 10 days for the Z-Sticks to get here. I can’t tell on the YTF, since AliExpress tracking is hard to see. (I see it was picked up, but not WHERE - assuming Hong Kong or Taiwan or someplace far off.) I’m spoiled by 2 day delivery!
So it’ll be late next week or next weekend before I can start setting things up and experimenting. I’ll probably install HAOS on a Pi a few days before that, but I don’t see that I can do much before I can use either Z-Wave or IR systems.
There are a few things I’m happily surprised to find now, when I’ve been searching for information. I have an Insteon garage door opening and two uninstalled Insteon controllers for ceiling fans. I’ve grown rather irritated with Insteon for several reasons and I see that there are a number of Z-Wave and wifi devices that I can use now that are simple relays or switches that I could use to open and close the garage door. (As for sensors, at some point, I may install some kind of proximity detector or switch to tell me when the door is open or closed. Looks like that involves either some LONG wires or an extra Pi.) So I can easily replace the Insteon garage door opener. When I do that, I won’t have any Insteon devices installed.
The other is that I’ve found drapery controls for wifi or Z-Wave (can’t remember which, I think both). I had not mentioned those, but I do want to install them in one room. Also, while I didn’t save the links, I found several fan controls that I could use with Home Assistant. That eliminates the Insteon fan controls (that were represented to me as able to handle two ceiling fans, but only handle one). So ALL my Insteon devices will be easily replaceable and I’ve even found devices now that weren’t around in 2017, when I did my initial planning.
2 Likes
You should check out EspHome devices.
Esp01’s are very cheap (just a couple of bucks) and can be used for nearly every sensor (using wifi)
You can do the door open/close and a number of reed switches all on the same wifi device. At the risk of sending you down another rabbit hole, esphome is good companion software to home assistant. It enables easy writing of firmware for esp8266/esp32 devices to do this sort of thing.
Anyway, depending on your definition of long, no long wires needed and no extra pi.
I use this, and has a seemingly strong radio 
Amazon.com: GoControl CECOMINOD016164 HUSBZB-1 USB Hub : Electronics
Amazon.com: EnGenius Technologies ENS500-AC 5 GHz Outdoor 11ac Wave 2 Wireless : Electronics
Might solve some issues?